Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

  • 0

Q&A thread for Fishfinders and GPS


BassProAddict

Question

Here's one:

Here's a surefire (Contact Us Please) question:

So you see the display on the screen right...so when you're looking at it, is the image you see infront of you? Example:

AAA BBB CCC

D E F

So is AAA in front of you but to the left of you?

Is BBB in front of you directly?

Is D deeper than AAA but under it?

So you know it's left of you,straight at you and right of you.You know DEF are deeper but for each of these, how do you know how far IN FRONT OF YOU they are?

Go easy on me guys.Electronics noob question.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0

I assume you're talking about your sonar or graph display.

What it shows is what is under the transducer. Assuming the transducer is mounted at the transom or on a bow mount trolling motor, it shows you what is under the back or front of the boat.

The right side of the display is what is currently under the transducer, as you get farther to the left side of the display you're looking at history (what was under the transducer a few moments ago). It shows you depth, like D under A in your example, but it doesn't show you left, center, or right ---- it only shows you what is (or was) under the transducer.

Hope that helps, good luck. There are probably some good sonar tutorials on line to help you out. I'd suggest you try snooping around on Lowrance and Vexilars homepages, they seem to have good info on them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Hi.I'm talking about Lowrance X96es and Humminbird fishfinders etc.

I've tried looking at Lowrance websites and even downloaded several manuals but to my shock and surprise, no "how to interpret/read fish finders" section.

I'm trying to digest what PerchJerker said.So if it doesn't show you left or right of you, how do you know where to cast, how far and how deep? How do you divide the scroll of the screen from history(what was under) and present (what IS under)? Can you pause/hold the image and cast right away where a fish arch will show up? But then again, where is that fish arch in the water (left?right?)?

I expected the answers will further confuse me but if I hang on, I'll understand it eventually.

Like I mentioned,electronics noob here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

BPA- You need to find someone who understands a graph and can show it to you. Its veryhard to explain. Depthfinders do not show you right and left. only what is underneath you.. they do however go out insomewhat of a cone, and cover slightly more than is just underneath you. If you however know the structure you can make assumtions as to what it is reading.

What is underneath you is on the furthest right part of your screen. As a new image take place it pushes "rememberd images off to the left of the screen unitll it falls off. IT is not "Left " of you, its just remembered images.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

BPA, google hightech fishing or Bruce "doc" Sampson.

There is more info on that site for using your locator and gps then you can shake a fishing rod at.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

I found a good explanation at the fish finder depot website. But to partially answer your questions, the cone angle of your transducer will determine the size of the search zone. This is also dependent on the depth you are fishing. For example, an 18 degree cone angle will rougly divide your depth by 3 to get the diameter of the search zone. If you are in 18 feet of water, the sonar will seach the bottom in a 6 foot diameter circle. At 9 feet of depth it will only be a 3 foot circle. Find the cone angle of your sonar to determine this.

There really is no right/left capability of normal sonar graphs, outside of the above search circle. What you see is either right below you (on right side of screen) or behind your boat in the track you took (scrolling history as you move left). Keep in mind that what is reported on the graph does not tell you where in the search circle the item was. As a tip, move your scrolling speed to the highest setting and make sure your fish ID is turned off (you'll get used to this).

Fish arches have to do with a little trigonometry. As the fish first enters the cone, it is further away from the transducer (think hypotenuse) than it will be when it is directly underneath the 'ducer. (Even though the fish remains at the same depth) Thus it appears to raise in depth. The opposite happens as it moves from the center of the cone to the opposite edge, it appears to get deeper because it is further away (hypotenuse again).

To further confuse you, there is a relatively new technology called side imaging sonar. This will take a top down picture of the bottom and will give you information on the left and right side of your boat. Still pretty spendy though and I'm sure this technology will improve in the coming years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Very informative though confusing.I'll get it soon.

So ok, here are some follow up questions:

Established fact:

No left of me or right of me...just under or what I passed.

Q:So the only way to "investigate a spot is if I've passed it or I'm directly on top of it?

Q:So the structure I then "discover" is behind or under me so I either cast from the rear of the boat or turn around and recall what was displayed a while back?

Q:So the FF will display the following real time items only:Depth Right Now,Temp Right Now and "stuff" directly under me (right portion of the screen)

Q:So all you you FF users know how to work these information along with cone angles,"stuff under you" interpretation?Man you guys are wizards!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Thats "basically" it!

If you are trolling or moving forward, what shows up on the right hand side of your depthfinder is what you just passed over. That information continues to move to the left as the new information appears on the right side of your depthfinder.

In regards to the cone angle, the deeper the water you are in the more of the lake (left & right) you will see on your depthfinder. However, it will all appear on your depthfinder like it is right underneath you. So you might see 2 fish on your depthfinder but one is to the left of the boat and one is to the right of the boat, although they look like they are swimming together on your screen.

In shallow water, less than 10', you might only be looking at a 3-4' wide area directly under your boat. The deeper you get, the wider the area it is you are viewing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Starting to comprehened it.

So wait, what a fishfinder mostly tells you about arches or bait balls is HOW FAR they are from the transducer and nothing on direction correct? It does tell you what's under you interms of structure hardness and type.Aside from vertical jigging and drop shotting, you can't really cast directly under you right? And since most of the FF's reported images are from underneath you, you have to circle around a spot you liked, remember what it was (or pause it) and then you cast away?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Sounds like you are mostly interested in casting???

One way to use a sonar in that regard is to locate a piece of structure - an underwater point, an inside turn in a weedline or breakline, an underwater hump, a boulder or a rock pile, etc - find the structure with the sonar, toss a marker buoy, then back off and fish using the buoy for reference.

Another way is if you're working a breakline or a weedline, you can figure out the depth at the bottom, then position your boat deeper, and try to follow that depth to work along the weedline or breakline.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

With the newer side vision technology it is now possible to look to the sides. With a Humminbird Quadra Beam unit and transducer you can see to the sides out 2 X what ever your depth is (normal units have a 1 for 1 ratio or less). If your in 30 feet of water, you will see 60 feet in width, and it shows what is at your right, and what is at your left.

If you spend the cash for their High Def. Side Scan units +/- $1000.00 (#797) to $3000.00 (#1197), you can see out to 200+ feet to either side.

You can do a google search for Hummingbird Quadra Beam, Or Hummingbird HD Side Imaging to find out more. Cabela's also has them. The 1197 comes out on the store shelves in Feb, so it's not in catalogs now.

Actually on ALL depth finders, except those using "Flasher" technology like a Vex uses, everything you see on the screen is past history. Flashers give "real time" information of what's going on underneath you at that instant in time.

Some units like the older Garmin I use now, give you the option to show a "Flasher Window" on the unit just to the right of the regular screen so you can see a fish that will be coming up on the regular screen about 2 or 3 seconds before it actually appears as an arc or a fish symbol.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Quote:

about 2 or 3 seconds before it actually appears as an arc or a fish symbol


You said this was on an 'older garmin unit'. I don't think any units, even the original sonars, ever had a 2-3 second delay. Paper graphs maybe, but not LCDs. The only way there'd be a delay this long is if you waited for the full symbol to be displayed in the middle of the screen --- but if you read the right edge of the screen there isn't a delay like this.

New sonars don't have any delay, they are instantaneous. Ain't technology wonderful grin.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Quote:

New sonars don't have any delay, they are instantaneous. Ain't technology wonderful
grin.gif


You'd be hard pressed to get a flasher guy to admit that, but it's true!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Quote:

Starting to comprehened it.

So wait, what a fishfinder mostly tells you about arches or bait balls is HOW FAR they are from the transducer and nothing on direction correct? It does tell you what's under you interms of structure hardness and type.Aside from vertical jigging and drop shotting, you can't really cast directly under you right? And since most of the FF's reported images are from underneath you, you have to circle around a spot you liked, remember what it was (or pause it) and then you cast away?


Your first point was dead on. It tells you that something gave a return at a certain DISTANCE from the transducer. It could be ANYWHERE within the cone angle (left, right, front, back) at that specific distance from transducer.

Your also correct that it does give a good indication of bottom hardness. Try to watch for transitions of hardness (solid greyline to black), as these will sometimes be likely hang outs for fish. It will also give you clues about what structure you are seeing (maybe a hard rock or log, maybe it's just a clump of weeds, etc).

And to your final question, you have a couple of options. You can drop a marker bouy as suggested. You could also mark the spot with a GPS (maybe get a combo GPS/Sonar!). I might mark the location if I see something I really like, but usually the information just goes towards putting the puzzle together. What depth are the fish relating to? Bottom type? Relation to weed line, bait fish, etc. I use it more to target the high percentage areas of the lake than to pinpoint specific locations. Paying close attention to depth, bottom type, and weed lines will likely produce better than only looking for fish returns/arches.

One final suggestion is that trolling cranks or dragging rigs/jigs makes it easier to target those fish you are seeing. No circling around to get to those spots.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Excellent education I'm receiving here smile.gif

So do most electronics guys here who have FishFinders and FF-GPS combos rely on those "Fish Arches" to locate possible within-the-cone-vicinity-fish or to mostly map out the bottom and give depth/temp/thermocline locations?

I've see that Humminbird Side Imaging and yes it is quite impressive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

A little of both. Primarily to locate or stay on structure but also to determine if there are fish in the area. The thing to remember is that a sonar unit is looking at an extremely small area below the boat. Not seeing fish arches doesn't mean they aren't there. Also, interpretation of what you are seeing can very based on experience and sonar quality.

Bob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.